Warriors’ Stephen Curry surpasses 25K points, and here’s how high he could climb on the NBA’s all-time list

Steph Curry reached another major milestone in his historic career on Saturday when he joined the 25,000-point club during the Golden State Warriors’ thrilling 115-110 victory over the Detroit Pistons. Curry hit the mark early in the third quarter when he buried a 3-pointer thanks to a screen from his long-time teammate, Draymond Green. 

Curry didn’t have his best shooting night, but he got to the free throw line time and again en route to 32 points, 13 of which came in the fourth quarter as the Warriors held off the Pistons for their fourth win in a row. With that victory, they moved into sixth place in the Western Conference. 

“It’s stunning. It’s night after night,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “He was brilliant on a night where his shot really wasn’t there.” 

Curry is the 26th player in NBA history to reach 25,000 points and the 10th to do so with one team. The other members of that exclusive club are Karl Malone (Jazz), Kobe Bryant (Lakers), Dirk Nowitzki (Mavericks), Michael Jordan (Bulls), Hakeem Olajuwon (Rockets), Tim Duncan (Spurs), John Havlicek (Celtics), Reggie Miller (Pacers) and Jerry West (Lakers). 

After Saturday’s contest, Curry now has 25,017 points, which ranks 26th on the NBA’s all-time scoring list. Perhaps the biggest question coming out of this game, at least from an individual perspective with Curry, is how high he can climb. 

Let’s break it down by the next big milestones. Here’s a look at 25-19:

Curry is 1,054 points behind Garnett, so he’ll easily pass him at some point next season assuming he stays even somewhat healthy (for reference, Curry scored 1,956 points in 74 games last season). Of course, Westbrook is still active and will surpass Garnett first, so Curry will have to pass Havlicek to jump into the top 20. To do that he’ll need 1,379 points, which should also be no trouble.

What about the top 15? Here is what 18-15 looks like at this moment:

This is a tightly-bunched group and all of them are retired so we don’t need to worry about the margin changing. Curry needs to score 1,694 points to pass Robertson and move into the top 15. Again, that should be a lock, and is even within reach next season as long as Curry doesn’t have a lengthy absence (Curry is doubling up Westbrook’s scoring average this season, and even with Westbrook’s advantage he has a good chance to get to Robertson before him.) 

Assuming Curry eventually moves into the top 15, the top 10 then moves into sight. That is one of the most exclusive clubs in the sport, and getting there will be no easy feat, even for someone as talented as Curry. 

James Harden is more than 2,000 points ahead of Curry and still active. Harden should get into the top 10 himself — perhaps by next season — and it’s extremely unlikely Curry will ever catch Harden. So that means Curry will have to also pass O’Neal to get into the top 10. 

Curry is 3,580 points behind O’Neal, and this is where it starts to get interesting. 

While Curry has had some huge games lately, he doesn’t score at the same level he did in his prime, or even a few years ago. This season he’s averaging 24.4 points per game, which is his lowest mark for a full season since 2015. Injuries are also a concern as he ages. 

The Warriors have 18 games remaining this season. If Curry keeps up his current rate and plays 15 games (allowing for a few days off) he should add another 350-375 points this season. 

It’s unclear how long Curry, who turns 37 on March 12, will want to play. Allowing for a further small decrease in the scoring department and possible injuries, but no major ones, let’s try to figure out a range of outcomes for Curry in the next two seasons. 

• 2025-26: 23.5 points per game and 65 appearances at the high end; 21.5 points per game and 50 appearances at the low end.
• 2026-27: 22 points per game and 62 appearances at the high end; 20 points per game and 50 appearances at the low end.

The high end for Curry might be about 3,266 more points from now until the end of the 2027 campaign; the low end could be about 2,425. Again, we’re doing a lot of guesswork here, but it’s very possible that Curry would have to play into the 2027-28 season, when he would turn 40, in order to catch O’Neal and enter the top 10 on the all-time scoring list. 

Is that possible? Absolutely. Curry is very well conditioned and one of the league’s ultimate competitors. Would he want to? Probably. It’s hard to imagine a scenario where Curry retires a few hundred points shy of becoming a top 10 scorer ever. 

Is anyone else within reach? And what about 30,000 points? Here’s 8-5 on the all-time list:

Durant is currently eighth, and he’s still racking up points. Chamberlain, meanwhile, is more than 6,000 points ahead of Curry. You don’t want to say anything is impossible, but it’s hard to imagine a world where Curry ever climbs higher than 10th on the all-time list. Getting to 30,000 is also asking a lot. 

Ultimately the safest bet is that Curry will finish somewhere between 15th and 10th on the all-time scoring list when he retires. Not bad for someone who played three years of college and didn’t average 20 points per game until his fourth professional season.